


Numbers/Performer/Next Great Adventure

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Community: hogwarts365, Dark, Dark Harry, Drabble Sequence, M/M, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 10:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5740747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is a brilliant performer, but he can't live without Tom</p>
            </blockquote>





	Numbers/Performer/Next Great Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Three interconnected flashfics For Hogwarts365 prompt #123:
> 
> 1\. Numbers  
> 2\. Performer  
> 3\. “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”
> 
> Each fic is 365 words exactly. :)

**Numbers**

"Their numbers are growing!" Harry snarled as soon as he apparated into Voldemort's office.

His lover looked up and snorted. "Done with the Order meeting already?"

Harry waved a hand negligently and then flopped into the chair behind his own desk. "Molly started arguing with the twins. I've told them a dozen times that I won't have my time wasted by that nonsense. I'm sure if Albus manages to calm them down he'll call me back."

Voldemort nodded at that, well aware of how little patience his lover had with the Order. "Did anyone go with you?"

"Sirius looked like he wanted to, but as it is his house, he didn't have anywhere else to go." Harry said, ticking off their spies on his fingers. "Hermione said she'd take notes for me if they actually talked about anything important. The twins were having too much fun baiting Molly. Tonks wasn't there."

"She's on call tonight," Voldemort confirmed absently. "You said their numbers are growing?"

"The Diggorys joined today; the whole clan from the sound of it. And Dumbledork reported that Bane is almost finished treating with the centaurs."

"I knew we'd never gain their alliance," Voldemort said. "They hate the Tauruses, who have always supported me."

"It doesn't help that the whole herd is only able to stay hidden in the Forbidden Forest thanks to Dumbledork's grace, either" Harry added.

"The Diggorys are not unexpected, either.”

"It isn't the who, it’s the how often," Harry pointed out. "This marks the fifth week in a row that more than one new member has joined the Order. We've not had gains like that in almost a month."

"We have higher numbers overall," Voldemort replied.

"Yes, but for how long?" Harry snapped back. "At this rate they'll overwhelm us in sheer numbers by the end of the school year!"

Voldemort considered this for a moment. "How goes your recruitment of your yearmates?"

"Slowly." Harry sighed. "Dumbledork has been poisoning the minds of the children for too long. We'd have better luck getting to the muggleborns before they get their letters."

Harry had mentioned that before, quite often. "Lucius is working on that."

Harry scowled. "He'd better work faster."

**Performer**

Harry was, if nothing else, a consummate performer. He had learned early on to hide his bruises and pain from his teachers, and to hide his anger and magic from his Uncle.

As soon as he entered the wizarding world, Harry had been forced to perform a new role: the Light's hero. He created the boy-who-lived facade quickly and wore it nearly constantly for his first five years.

As Harry learned of the true nature of the war between Dumbledore and Voldemort, he quickly learned to hide his questions, even as he sought out others who were similarly disillusioned. He hid his alliances with Slytherin students, and his meetings with muggleborns who chafed at the way Dumbledore and the other teachers tried to stamp out anything from their muggle past. He hid his love for Voldemort behind fumbling around girls and hanging out with Hermione and Luna.

At Dumbledore’s command he hid his membership in the Order, and at his own discretion he hid the fact that he and several of the others were secretly spies for Voldemort. At school he even had to hide his knowledge, gaining only the minimum of OWLs because he couldn't afford to do better than Ron and have the other boy turn on him again.

No, Harry had spent his life performing, and by his sixth year his performance was flawless. But that day, in London, when the Order somehow intercepted a private message and ambushed Voldemort on his way to talk to a ten year old muggleborn, Harry put in his greatest performance ever.

As he battled his lover, no one would have believed Harry was anything but a perfect Gryffindor. As he "protected" the child from Voldemort, no one would have believed that he was calculating every move and comment to his advantage, in the hopes of eventually turning this child to the dark. As he attacked the encroaching Death Eaters, no one would have believed that he was actually working against the Order from within.

And when the Dark Lord was at last defeated by Dumbledore, no one would have believed the depth of pain that Harry hid behind his cocky smile and sparkling green eyes.

**“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.”**

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. She had been tasked with preparing for this day since Harry had convinced her of the Dark Lord's agenda, but she still felt the need to ask. This was _Harry_. If he died doing this, she wasn't sure how she or the others would go on.

"I have to see him again," Harry said in a dull monotone. The drain of the wizarding world's celebrations and the happy mask he had to wear outside his rooms was wearing on him. "I have to get him back."

Hermione bit her lip but refrained from asking again. "Well everything's ready," she said. "You just have to tie the thestral-tail cord around your waist and then jump through."

Harry quickly did as instructed and then carefully stepped through the detritus of Hermione's ritual. With a flash of his typically Gryffindorish mask, he then jumped through the archway. The cord that Luna and the twins held quickly pulled taut.

After what felt like hours, but was probably only half an hour, the cord went slack. A moment later, Harry began to back out of the veil. He appeared to be straining against something, and the twins immediately dropped the rope and ran forward to grab him around the waist.

Together the three of them pulled, until finally the force pulling from the other side was released. They all fell backwards onto the floor of the chamber. It took Hermione a moment to realize that there were four bodies tangled on the floor, and even longer to realize what she was seeing.

Harry was tangled with another man, kissing him enthusiastically - some might say desperately. Tears were running down his face, and the other man looked just as passionate.

Suddenly, Hermione realized who she was looking at. This wasn't the Voldemort who had been killed by Dumbledore last week. This was the teen she had seen in Harry's memories from the Chamber of Secrets. This was _Tom_.

When their frantic kissing finally paused, Hermione said, "Welcome back, My Lord." Tom and Harry both looked up at her bemused, and then Harry grinned brightly at his lover. "Yes, Love, welcome to your next great adventure."


End file.
